Thursday, October 27, 2005

One red and one white

I’m sure that I’ve talked about this in the past, but I grew up in NL territory, and I’ve lived most of my life in NL territory. The only exception would be the first two years I was married and lived 70 miles from Baltimore. But even then, I was equidistant between Pittsburgh and Philly. So all that it is to say that I’ve always been a fan of NL teams. Cincinnati when I was a kid and Pittsburgh when I was in college. I’ve had AL players as heroes along the way, as my students can attest to the Brooks Robinson shrine in my office, complete with autographed photo to “Mr. Lewis”.Anyway, besides geographic proximity, and thus, probability of seeing live games, my NL preference is strengthened by the DH. I am not a fan of the DH.All that it is to say that it is quite unfair that in my adult years, the AL seems to have nearly monopolized the world series. That is mainly a problem when your own team has won the pennant. But in general, it is just sad for the NL.There are always exceptions to the sadness though. So break out the only two AL ball caps I’ve ever owned. Back in the early nineties I decided that in order to have any October happiness, one just might have at least to be fond of an AL team. I sensed a bleached bright future for the White Sox and so got myself a cap. My BoSox cap came a few years later. The thought that either of these was the choice of a fan desiring a winning team was laughable. But not anymore.Back in 1917, the winning sox were white, in 1918, they were red, complete with Babe Ruth pitching game 7. In 2004 and 05, the order is reversed, but what are the chances of that? Oh, I guess it’s no big deal. I’m always looking for silly connections like that. So how about this: Cubs haven’t won since 1908. How about next year? Then we could bring it back to the NL.